Cattle crushes

ABSTRACT

A cattle crush having one wall fixed in relation to the floor thereof and one wall adjustably positionable with respect to the fixed wall, the adjustable wall comprising a series of roughly parallel upwardly extending slats hingedly connected at their lower ends to the crush, the upper portions of the slats being interconnected by a transverse flexible strip.

United States Patent inventor Paul H. A. Miles Benghoyle, Cathcart, CapeProvince, South Airica Appl. No. 867,707 Filed Oct. 20, 1969 PatentedNov. 16, 1971 Priority Oct. 21, 1968 South Africa 68/6786 CATTLE CRUSHES8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

U.S. CL... 119/98 int. Cl A6ld 03/00 Field 01 Search 119/99, 98,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 733,874 7/1903 Reck et a1119/99 1,198,232 9/1916 Huffman et al. 119/99 2,786,449 3/1957 Dahlerup1 19/99 2,851,993 9/1958 Hettinger l 19/99 Primary ExaminerHugh R.Chamblee AttorneyStevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher ABSTRACT: -A cattlecrush having one wall fixed in relation to the floor thereof and onewall adjustabiy positionable with respect to the fixed wall, theadjustable wall comprising a series of roughly parallel upwardlyextending slats hingedly connected at their lower ends to the crush, theupper portions of the slats being interconnected by a transverseflexible strip.

CATTLE CRUSHES This invention relates to cattle crushes used to hold ananimal firmly so that various operations may be carried out on it. Suchoperations may include branding, castration, hoof paring and surgicaloperations.

Such crushes, whether or not they are of a type which may be tilted toform a cattle table, normally comprise one wall fixed in relation to thefloor of the crush, the other wall being adjustable in position.

In accordance with this invention there is provided a crush of the typedescribed in which the adjustable wall comprises an assembly of adjacentslats connected to the crush at their lower ends by hinged connections,the slats also being connected to each other by a flexible strip.

Further features of the invention provide for the slat assembly tocomprise separate sections, for the slats in each section to be hingedto a bar which in turn is hinged to swing outwardly; for a pair ofupwardly diverging bars located internally of the slat assembly to bepivotally connected to the floor, and for the crush to embody a headgate adapted to be fitted to either end thereof.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the movable sidewall;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the movable sidewall and adjacent parts;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the crush with the slats of the movablesidewall removed; and

FIG. 4 is an elevation of the crush also with the slats of the movablesidewall removed.

In this embodiment of the invention the fixed wall 1 and floor 2 of thecrush may be of any conventional type but are preferably of the mobiletilting type described in my copending patent application of even dateand entitled Improvements in Cattle Tables.

Hinged to the side 3 of the floor opposite the fixed wall is a pair ofbars 4 so mounted that they may be swung away from the fixed wall aboutvertical axes 5 positioned approximately centrally in the length of saidside of the floor. Over these bars is a corresponding pair of bars 6hinged to a frame 7 extending centrally over the top of the crush. Theouter free ends of both pairs of bars are connected to correspondingposts 8.

To each of the bottom bars 4 a series of slats 9 are individually hingedas indicated at 10 to swing about horizontal axes. All the slats 9 areconnected together by one of more strips of flexible material 11. Theassembly is thus in the form of a pair of gates which may beindividually opened as indicated by arrows A and B in FIG. 2.

At each end of the crush hinge members 12 are secured to the fixed wall1 on which top and bottom head gates 13 and 14 respectively may bedetachably mounted. The end posts 8 connected to the slats are alsohinged to the bottom bars 4 as indicated at 15 and each is provided witha mounting 16 by which a lever mechanism 17 may be detachably connectedbetween the fixed wall and the post. This lever mechanism is used topull the corresponding post towards the fixed wall and against the neckof an animal in the crush thereby in conjunction with the head gateslimiting movement of its head. The head gates are maintained in a closedposition by a guide 18 mounted on the post 8 and spaced apart therefromwith the members of the gate passing through the space 19 between thepost and guide.

When an animal is in the crush the post at the tail end is also drawntowards the fixed wall by means of a length of rope (not shown) or anyother convenient means.

This inward movement of both posts causes corresponding inward movementof the slats 9. Due to the fact that they are individually hinged andflexibly interconnected they largely follow the contour of the animaland thus assist to confine it in a more satisfactory manner than couldbe achieved with a rigid panel structure. Due to this it has been foundthat no tailgate is necessary. However, it is preferred additionally toconfine the animal by a pair of u wardly diverging bars 20 and 21mounted at their bottom en s and located so that they will fit behindthe shoulder and hip of the animal respectively. These bars are drawnagainst the animal by lengths of rope (not shown) connecting the bars atthe top ends to the upper portion of the fixed wall. As cattle tend tohook their rear feet in front of the rear or hip bar 21 this ispreferably pivotally connected to the floor forwardly of the rearportion of the crush and preferably roughly centrally along the lengthof the crush.

The shoulder bar 20 on the other hand is pivoted to the floor towardsthe headgate such that it passes substantially vertically up the crush.The upper end of this shoulder bar may be located to slide in parallelto the movable wall of the crush by passing it between two adjacentslats and between the strips of flexible material 11 on each side of theflaps as shown in FIG. 1. This shoulder bar is provided with a spigot 22at its lower end and may thus be used at either end of the crush. Itwill be appreciated that since the head gates and shoulder bar can bemounted at either end of the crush the animal can be driven in fromeither end depending on the side of the animal to which access isrequired. Also since each section of the slat assembly may beindividually opened it will allow access to the whole of the rearportion of either side of the animal which is all that is normallyrequired additionally to the access obtainable through the ends of thecrush.

lclaim:

l. A cattle crush comprising a floor, a fixed wall extending upwardlyfrom the floor on one side thereof and an adjustable wall extendingupwardly from the side of the floor opposite the fixed wall, theadjustable wall comprising an assembly of adjacent slats connected tothe floor of the crush at their lower ends by hinged connections, theslats also being connected to each other by a flexible strip locatedupwardly of the floor.

2. A crush as claimed in claim 1 in which the flexible strip is locatedadjacent the upper ends of the slats.

3. A crush as claimed in claim 1 in which the slat assembly comprisestwo separate sections with the lower ends of the slats of each sectionhinged to a bar which in turn is hinged to swing outwardly from thefloor of the crush.

4. A crush as claimed in claim 3 in which the bars are hinged to thefloor of the crush near the center of the side thereof opposite thefixed wall.

5. A crush as claimed in claim 3 in which a post is provided at each endof the slat assembly each post being hinged at its lower end similarlyto the slats and provided with a hinged arm at its upper end such thatthe post may be swung outwardly from the fixed wall of the crush.

6. A crush as claimed in claim 1 including a headgate, the headgatebeing adapted to be fitted at either end of the crush by means ofdisengageable hinge members secured to the headgate and fixed wall ofthe crush.

7. A crush as claimed in claim 1 in which a pair of upwardly divergingbars are connected to the floor of the crush adjacent the inside of theslat assembly.

8. A crush as claimed in claim 7 in which one bar is pivotally attachedto the floor of the crush centrally along the length thereof and theother is adapted to be connected to the floor towards either end of thecrush.

1. A cattle crush comprising a floor, a fixed wall extending upwardlyfrom the floor on one side thereof and an adjustable wall extendingupwardly from the side of the floor opposite the fixed wall, theadjustable wall comprising an assembly of adjacent slats connected tothe floor of the crush at their lower ends by hinged connections, theslats also being connected to each other by a flexible strip locatedupwardly of the floor.
 2. A crush as claimed in claim 1 in which theflexible strip is located adjacent the upper ends of the slats.
 3. Acrush as claimed in claim 1 in which the slat assembly comprises twoseparate sections with the lower ends of the slats of each sectionhinged to a bar which in turn is hinged to swing outwardly from thefloor of the crush.
 4. A crush as claimed in claim 3 in which the barsare hinged to the floor of the crush near the center of the side thereofopposite the fixed wall.
 5. A crush as claimed in claim 3 in which apost is provided at each end of the slat assembly each post being hingedat its lower end similarly to the slats and provided with a hinged armat its upper end such that the post may be swung outwardly from thefixed wall of the crush.
 6. A crush as claimed in claim 1 including aheadgate, the headgate being adapted to be fitted at either end of thecrush by means of disengageable hinge members secured to the headgateand fixed wall of the crush.
 7. A crush as claimed in claim 1 in which apair of upwardly diverging bars are connected to the floor of the crushadjacent the inside of the slat assembly.
 8. A crush as claimed in claim7 in which one bar is pivotally attached to the floor of the crushcentrally along the length thereof and the other is adapted to beconnected to the floor towards either end of the crush.